Ohtani welcomed warmly, helps Betts, Freeman lead Dodgers in home debut

LOS ANGELES – Shohei Ohtani was pleased with the quality of his at-bats and “grateful” for the warm reception he received from the sold-out crowd at Dodger Stadium on Opening Day – but he left with regret.

“I was the only guy who couldn't hit a home run,” Ohtani said, speaking through an interpreter, with a slight laugh after the Los Angeles Dodgers scored a 7-1 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday afternoon.

Ohtani was referring to the trio of superstars at the top of the Dodgers' lineup, of which he is the center. Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, the two hitters flanking Ohtani, each homered against Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas in the third inning. But all three left their mark on the Dodgers' home debut, combining for 5 hits, 4 walks, and 4 RBIs while scoring each of the Dodgers' first six runs.

Through the first three games of the season – the team opened with a two-game series against the San Diego Padres in South Korea last week – Betts, Ohtani and Freeman have slashed .455/.578/.788 while driving in 13 of the Dodgers' 23 runs.

“There's been a lot of expectation on the outside,” Betts said, “but internally, no one expects anything other than what Freddie, Mookie, Shohei and everyone in the lineup can do . We're just going to do what we can.”

Betts, Ohtani and Freeman mark the fifth time in major league history that three players who finished in the top three in MVP voting the previous year have started the following season on the same team, according to the Sports Bureau. 'Elias. Ohtani was the unanimous choice of the American League for the second time in three years in 2023; Betts and Freeman finished second and third, respectively, in National League voting.

Betts led off the game with a walk, then moved to third on a double by Ohtani – who thought Betts would try to score but instead got caught between second and third base – and scored on Freeman's single. Two innings later, Betts homered to left, Ohtani walked and Freeman homered to right center, giving the Dodgers five runs before recording their seventh out.

“I think in any discussion you could argue they're the best hitters in baseball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Betts, Ohtani and Freeman. “When you talk about those three guys and you lump in a handful or ten more players, they're in that conversation. We're fortunate to have three of them at the top of the order. The first word that comes to us is spirit is 'intimidating.'”

“Intimidating” can also be used to describe the events of the past week for Ohtani, in the midst of a betting scandal centered on at least $4.5 million in wire transfers from his bank account to a bookmaking operation that the subject of a federal investigation. Ohtani's longtime performer and good friend Ippei Mizuhara was fired by the Dodgers after Ohtani's camp alleged he wired the money without Ohtani's knowledge, which Ohtani repeated when addressing the issue Monday. Three days later, Ohtani emerged from the center field fence and strolled down a long blue carpet to punctuate the opening ceremonies. He was cheered louder than any of his teammates. A similar welcome awaited him as he prepared to take his first at-bat.

“Obviously I've been here before as a [opposing] player, so it was a little intimidating,” Ohtani said through his new interpreter, Will Ireton, the Dodgers' performance operations manager. “But I'm very grateful to the fans. And there were many of them.”

Dodger Stadium was packed with 52,667 fans for one of the most anticipated home openers in recent memory, a reaction to an offseason spending spree that totaled more than $1.2 billion. The focus was on Ohtani and his place within what are casually called the Big Three. But Tyler Glasnow, another major addition this winter, pitched six innings with just one run. And other hitters — including Will Smith, Max Muncy, Teoscar Hernandez and James Outman, who fill the 4-7 spots — have contributed as well.

Freeman, speaking from a clubhouse overflowing with media in large part because of Ohtani, wanted to make that clear.

“It’s not just the top of the order,” Freeman said. “There are nine guys in this lineup. I'm going to avoid that for every question from now on. There are nine guys in this lineup. We did a good job today.”